Compiled by C. ARUNO, RASHVINJEET S. BEDI and R. ARAVINTHAN

       HONG Kong celebrity Maria Cordero (pic) lives in a three-storey mansion, complete with a vegetable garden and a separate enclosed compound for her dogs, Sin Chew Daily reported.

       Cordero, 67, said she had often felt the blues since her husband Rick da Silva died last year.

       Her dogs, she said, had provided her companionship throughout her grieving period.

       It was reported that Cordero’s house in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district cost HK$200mil (RM108mil).

       There is a swimming pool and scenery overlooking the mountains nearby.

       Cordero and her husband were married for 21 years.

       He had suffered from lung cancer before contracting pneumonia in August last year.

       > It is a quiet time for shops selling prayer items to mark the Hungry Ghost Festival this month, China Press reported.

       The demand would be low since there would be no Chinese opera, puppet shows or kotai (stage performances) allowed in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Dai Tian Chen, the general manager of an association that grouped traders of prayer items.

       He estimated that sales could drop between 30% and 50% this year.

       Online sales only make up around 20%, he added.

       The Hungry Ghost Festival is held every year on the 15th day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar.

       It falls on Aug 22 this year.

       ● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.